Photographic enlarging easel



y 1970 J. E. CARABALLO PHQTOGRAPHIC ENLARGING EASEL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed NOV. 7. 1967 INVENTOR Julia n E. Caro baI/o ATTORNEY y 9, 1970 J.E. CARABALLO 3,512,887

PHOTOGRAPHIC ENLARGING EASEI:

Filed NOV. 7. 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 4.

INVENTOR Julian E. Combo/Io ATTORNEY United States Patent US. Cl. 355-72Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An easel adapted for use inphotographic enlarging processes and permitting the production ofborderless prints. A supporting plate for the sheet is provided with aplurality of spaced apertures and when the plate is placed in apredetermined position relative to a second member, an adhesive bearingpressure surface carried by the second member is disposed Within eachsuch aperture in the supporting plate substantially flush with thesupporting plate so that a sheet of paper placed on the supporting platewill adhere to each pressure surface. When the supporting plate is movedfrom the predetermined position, the adhesive contact with the pressuresurfaces is immediately broken so that the sheet of paper may readily beremoved from the easel.

In the production of photographic enlargements, it is often desirable toproduce enlargements which do not have a white border. The presence ofsuch margins comes about as a result of the necessity of providing, inan enlarging easel, a mask or similar means which Will hold the papersecurely and in a plane position by pressing against the borders ormargins of the paper as the image is projected upon the paper.Frequently, however, for aesthetic reasons, it is desired to produceenlargements which do not have the customary white borders, and easelshave been designed to accomplish this. For the most part, such easelscomprise a flat plate for supporting the photo-sensitive paper and uponthe plate is placed a tape coated with an adhesive or tacky substance onboth sides so that the tape can be held in place uponthe easel and, atthe same time, persent a tacky surface for holding the paper in placeonce it is positioned upon the easel. Easels of this type are, however,not satisfactory, especially for volume production, because of theconsiderable difliculty encountered in removing the photographic paperfrom the easel once the exposure has been made. The area of contact ofthe tape with the easel is generally the same as the area of contactwith the paper. As a result, the tape may become loose or be removedfrom the easel in the process of removing the paper. In addition, thereis a natural tendency to attempt to remove the paper from such an easelby pulling at a corner or edge of the paper, and the resultant excessivecurling of the paper may readily cause cracking on the emulsion side ofthe paper.

The enlarging easel of the present invention overcomes these obstacles.The user may quickly and conveniently place a sheet of photographicpaper on the easel and it will immediately be held securely in place andin a perfectly planar position as required. Only a very slight downwardpressure on the sheet of paper adjacent its corners need be applied inorder to ensure that the sheet will be securely held in place. At theend of the projection period, the paper is readily removed from theeasel,

and the easel is immediately available for a subsequent enlargement.

Described briefly, the invention comprises a supporting plate which isof a size at least as large as the largest size of the photographicpaper to be accommodated. The supporting plate defines in its surface aplurality of apertures, at least one at each of the four corners of thephotographic enlarging paper to be placed thereon, and it is alsopossible to provide one or more additional such apertures at otherspaced locations if additional contacting points are believed desirable.This supporting plate is adapted to be moved to a predetermined positionrelative to a second member which preferably comprises another baseplate which is secured by means of a hinge connection to thefirst-mentioned supporting plate. The base plate is preferably adaptedfor secure positioning on the table or mounting board of the enlarger.When the supporting plate is moved to the predetermined position, aplurality of small pressure surfaces which are carried by the secondmember becomes positioned within the aforementioned apertures, and eachsuch pressure surface preferably is formed of a relatively small planarsurface which is so positioned that it is substantially coplanar withthe top surface of the supporting plate for the paper. Each of theindividual pressure surfaces is provided with an adhesive materialthereupon which may be either a coating or may comprise a tape having anouter adhesive surface. When the supporting plate carrying the paper ismoved to a predetermined position relative to the base plate, the backsurface of the paper makes contact with the adhesive coated pressuresurfaces each of which is then in a position Where it can readilycontact the back surface of the enlarging paper. When the supportingsurface is moved out of the predetermined position, the photographicpaper is of course carried with the support ing surface and the adhesivecontact with the pressure surfaces is then broken so that the paper cannow be very readily removed from the supporting surface and anothersheet of paper placed thereupon. It is thus possible to make successiveenlargements rapidly with the paper in each case being held securely andyet with no frame or the like overlying the paper so as to produce amargin 7 thereupon.

In describing the invention, reference will be made to the accompanyingdrawings in which like reference characters designate correspondingparts throughout the several views and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the easel of the present inventionin use;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the easel of the invention showing the top plateor paper-supporting surface in place;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the easel of FIG. 2 but with the top orpaper-supporting surface removed to show the construction of the baseplate of the easel;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the cross section line 44of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the crosssection line 55 ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of one of the pressure surfaces on the baseplate and illustrating the manner in which the adhesive tape may beapplied to such pressure surface;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the easel of the inventionparticularly illustrating one of the pressure surfaces on the baseplate;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a portion of the easel of FIGS. 1-7; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a modified form of pressure plate of theinvention.

Referring to FIG; 1, the easel .10 of the present invention is shown asbeing positioned upon a supporting plate or table 11 which may form apart of the enlarger 12. In use, the easel 10 is placed upon the boardor plate 11 beneath the enlarger 12 so that an image projected throughthe lens 13 will be cast upon a sheet of photosensitive paper which isplaced upon the upper surface of the easel 10 as will be hereinafterdescribed. When an image has been projected thereupon, the photographicpaper is removed from the easel 10 for developing and fixation and asubsequent sheet of photographic paper is then put in place. It will beevident that it is desirable that the easel 10 be so constructed as topermit the ready insertion and placing of photographic paper thereuponand the quick removal of the paper from its upper surface so thatsuccessive enlargements can quickly and conveniently be made.

Referring now to FIGS. 2, 3, 4, and 5, the easel of the presentinvention comprises a base plate 14 and a papersupporting plate 15 uponwhich may be placed a sheet of photographic enlarging paper 16 which hasbeen shown in dotted lines in FIGS. 2-5 and 7 since it of course formsno part of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, the paper supporting plate 15 is shown in place; whereas inFIG. 3, it has been removed so as to reveal the details of the baseplate 14.

As shown in FIG. 3, the base plate 14 comprises a flat surface 17 whichis provided with a plurality of apertures 18-2.1 along its rear edge asimilar plurality of apertures 2224 along its front edge, and a furtherplurality of apertures 25 and 26 located horizontally along themid-section of the plate '17. Supported by the plate 17 along itsleft-hand edge is a longitudinal member 27, and a similar longitudinalmember 28 is supported adjacent the right-hand edge of plate 17 as well.Both the longitudinal members 27 and 28 extend rearwardly of the rearedge of plate 17 and each is hingedly connected by means of a hinge pin29 and 30, respectively, to a respective longitudinal member 31 and 32to which is affixed the paper-supporting plate 15 which is not shown indetail in FIG. 3 but is shown in FIG. 2.

In addition to the longitudinal members 27 and 28, shorter longitudinalmembers 33 and 34 are provided adjacent the rear edge of plate 17 andsimilar longitudinal members 35 and 36 are positioned adjacent its frontedge as well. Another short longitudinal member 37 is positionedadjacent to aperture 26.

The detailsof construction of one of the longer longitudinal memberssuch as the member 27 is best illustrated in FIG. 8. As shown there, themember 27 provides a supporting surface 40 along a major portion of itslength, and this surface 40 provides a support for the upperpaper-supporting plate 15 when it is rotated into position on top of thelower plate 14. In addition, the member 27 is provided with a pair ofraised pressure surfaces 4.1 and 42, and the function of these, as willbe seen, is to provide a support for an adhesive material which willcontact the rear surface of the photographic paper when an enlargementis to be made. As shown in FIG. 8, the raised pressure surface 42 ispositioned so as to substantially overlie the aperture 25. In a similarmanner, the raised pressure surface 41 is adapted to overlie theaperture 18. The functions of the apertures 18 and 25 is to permit theuse of an adhesive material such as a cloth or paper tape 43 which isadhesive only on one side thereof since, as shown in FIG. 8, one canthen place a length of such tape 43 upon the top of the pressure surface42 with the adhesive side up, and then run the ends of the tape 43through the aperture 25 and underneath the bottom surface of plate 17 sothat the adhesive upper side of the tape 43 can then adhere tightly tothe bottom surface of plate 17. As a result, it becomes readily possibleto place a new section of tape 43 on the easel when it is found that theadhesive characteristics of the tape previously used have becomeimpaired, and it is also possible to provide a substantial amount ofsurface along the bottom surface of plate 17 to which the tape 43 mayadhere to ensure thereby that the tape will not be inadvertently removedwhen one attempts to remove from the easel a sheet of photosensitivepaper which has been allowed to adhere to the tape. In a similar manner,the pressure surface 41 is covered with a piece of adhesive tape 44which extends not only over the pressure surface 41 but also downwardlythrough the aperture 18 on each side of the pressure surface 41 andthence along the bottom surface of plate 17.

With respect to the shorter longitudinal members such as the member 37of FIG. 3, for example, the constructional details thereof are bestshown in FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG. 6 shows the raised pressure surface 45 asoverlying the aperture 26 and also shows the use of an adhesive tape 46which overlies the pressure surface 45 and extends through the aperture26 so as to bear with its adhesive surface against the bottom edge ofplate 17.

An alternative construction is shown in FIG. 9 which illustrates the useof a bracket 47 which may be integrally formed with the plate 17 orotherwise secured thereto as by welding, etc. The bracket '47 comprisesan upstanding portion 48 and a horizontally extending portion 49 whichis so positioned as to lie substantially adjacent to the pressuresurface 50. The adhesive tape 51 is placed with its tacky surface facingupwardly over the top of the pressure surface 50 and then the end of thetape is placed through the gap which separates the bracket 49 from theupstanding projection 52 which carries the raised pressure surface 50and thence under the bottom surface of the horizontal portion 49 so thatthe upper adhesive surface of the tape 51 can readily adhere thereto.

The description thus far has concerned itself entirely with the use ofan adhesive tape to provide an adhesive or tacky surface upon each ofthe raised pressure surfaces. It is of course within the scope of thisinvention to use a coating upon each of the pressure surfaces of anadhesive material instead of using an adhesive tape. Preferably, such acoating should be re-usable so that it will retain its tackycharacteristics after having been used a number of times, and it is Wellwithin the scope of the invention as well to use a material which isadapted to be brushed on so that the user of the easel of the inventioncan brush on a new coating of an adhesive substance in the event thatthe pressure surfaces lose their desirably tack characteristics.Moreover, it is within the scope of the invention as well to use a tapewhich is adhesive on both sides although experience has shown that thematerial specifically referred to above, i.e., a material which isadhesive only on one side, is preferable.

As shown in FIG. 2, the upper plate 15 which is hinged to the lowerplate 14 comprises essentially a flat plate of smooth material havingraised upper and left side edges 55 and 56 Whose function is to provideguides for the positioning of the paper on top of the easel. In otherwords, in normal usage the operator will place a sheet of photosensitivepaper upon the easel and move it into position so that the upper andlefthand edges of the paper will abut against the raised strips 55 and56.

With the upper member 15 rotated downwardly so as to overlie the lowermember 14, it can be seen that the upper member 15 defines an aperturetherein at each location of a pressure surface on the lower plate 14.Each aperture in the upper plate 15 is made sufficiently large so as toprovide adequate clearance and thereby enable the raised pressuresurface on the lower plate to fit entirely within the correspondingaperture in the upper plate.

As previously stated, the bottom surface of the upper plate 15 restsupon and is supported by the flat surface 40 of each of the longitudinalmembers 27 and 28. If the amount of vertical distance by which thepressure surface 42 of FIG. 8 is raised above the surface 40 is made tosubstantially equal the thickness of the upper plate 15, it will beapparent that when the upper plate 15 is lowered into position atopplate 14, the raised pressure surface 42 will lie almost exactly flushwith the upper surface of the upper plate 15 as shown in FIG. 5. Theshorter longitudinal members such as those designated at 35, 36 and 37of FIG. 3, may similarly be constructed as at FIG. 7 with a supportingsurface 60 for the lower plate 14 which is depressed below the pressuresurface 45 by an amount substantially equal to the thickness of theplate 14 so that a smooth surface is provided which will enable holdingthe photographic paper in a plane position.

From the preceding description, it will be readily apparent how theeasel of the invention is to be used in practice. When the upperpaper-supporting surface 15 is rotated into position as in FIG. 4, theuser may place a sheet of photosensitive paper on the easel properlypositioned relative to the margin-defining members 55 and 56, and thevarious pressure surfaces underlying the rear surface of the paper willthen adhere to such rear surface, if the paper is pressed downwardlyonto the adhesive, and thus prevent the paper from moving out ofposition during the enlarging process. When it is desired to remove thepaper from the easel, all that is necessary is for the user to grasp theupper surface 15 by the projecting tab 60 (FIG. 2) and rotate the uppersurface 15 upwardly away from the lower surface 14. This immediatelycauses a rupture in the adhesive connection between each of the pressuresurfaces and the back surface of the paper so that the paper can thencan very readily be removed from the upper surface 15.

FIG. 8 illustrates a means which may be provided to facilitate thepositioning of the entire easel upon the larger mounting board 11. Thus,along one edge of the lower plate 17, a plurality of slots 6-1 and 62are provided. A length of adhesive tape 63, with its adhesive sidefacing downwardly, is then effectively threaded through the slots 61 and62 so that an adhesive surface is provided along the bottom edge ofplate 17 between the slots 61 and 62. This adhesive tape is readily heldonto the plate 17 by means of the adhesive connection which then existsbetween the tape 63 and the upper surface of plate 17.

It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the easel of thisinvention may be made of metal, wood, plastic, or any suitablecombination of such materials. The various longitudinal members 27, 28and also 33 37 may be formed integrally with bottom plate 17 or may beglued, cemented, or welded together. It is readily apparent that theeasel of FIGS. 2 and 3 is particularly adapted for making enlargementsof several sizes as represented by 16 which designates a smalled sizedpaper (such as the common 5" x 7") and 16a which represents the larger,commonly used 8" x 10 size, and it is of course within the scope of theinvention to con struct the easel to accommodate various sizes ofcommonly used enlarging paper.

The novel features of this invention have been described as incorporatedin a photographic enlarging easel. It should be understood, however,that such features are not necessarily limited to such use but areinstead applicable to easels generally or to similar devices in which itis desired to hold a flat sheet of paper or the like in a predeterminedposition, with the facility of readily removing such sheet, and withoutrequiring that any mask or similar means be placed upon the sheet tohold it in position.

Having described an improved photographic enlarging easel in .onespecific embodiment of my invention, I desire it to be understood thatvarious modifications and alterations may be made to the specific formsshown without departing from the spirit and scope of my in vention.

What I claim is:

1. An easel comprising in combination, a base plate,

a plurality of spaced planar pressure surfaces each carried by andsupported above the surface of said base plate so as to be mutuallycoplanar,

a supporting plate adapted to be moved to a predetermined position atopsaid base plate,

said supporting plate having a planar top surface adapted to support asheet of paper,

a plurality of apertures in said supporting plate each of such aposition and size as to receive a respective one of said planar pressuresurfaces,

means for maintaining said supporting plate in said predeterminedposition with the upper surface of said supporting plate substantiallycoplanar with the top of each planar pressure surface disposed withinone of said apertures,

and means applied to the top of each of said planar pressuresurfaces toprovide a plurality of spaced tacky surfaces for holding a sheet ofpaper in position on said supporting plate.

2. The easel of claim 1 in which said supporting plate and said baseplate are hingedly connected together.

3. The easel of claim 1 which includes at least one piece of adhesivetape afiixed to said pressure surfaces with an adhesive surface of saidtape facing outwardly to provide said tacky surface.

4. The easel of claim 3 in which said base plate defines at least oneaperture therein adjacent each said planar pressure surface, saidadhesive tape having a tacky surface on only one side thereof, said tapeoverlying said pressure surface and also extending through theassociated aperture and having its single tacky surface fastened to theunderside of said base plate.

5. The easel of claim 1 which includes at least one upstandinglongitudinal member supported by said base plate, said member defining afirst surface for supporting said supporting plate and also defining atleast one of said pressure surfaces.

6. The easel of claim 5 in which said pressure surface defined by saidlongitudinal member is raised above said first surface by an amountsubstantially equaling the thickness of said supporting plate so thatsaid pressure surfaces and the top of said supporting plate aresubstantially coplanar when said supporting plate is moved to itspredetermined position in which it rests upon said first surface.

7. The easel of claim 3 which includes a bracket defining a planarbottom surface adjacent opposite edges of at least one of said pressuresurfaces, said tape having only one pressure surface and being disposedon said pressure surface with its non-adhesive surface in contact withsaid pressure surface, opposite ends of said tape being secured to saidplanar bottom surfaces of said brackets.

8. The easel of claim 1 in which the said base plate is provided with atleast two spaced slots adjacent and normal to an edge of said plate, anda length of adhesive tape which is tacky on only one surface thereofbeing threaded through said slots so as to lie along the bottom surfaceof said base plate between said two slots with its nontacky surface incontact with said bottom surface and with portions of said tapeoverlying the top surface of 8 said base plate with the tacky surfacethereof adhering to References Cit d the top surface of said base plate.

9. The easel of claim "1 in which said supporting plate UNITED STATESPATENTS includes means for positioning a sheet of paper or the like2,799,205 7/1957 Bacslc in a predetermined position. r 2,803,166 8/ 1957Van Deusen 355-72 10. The easel of claim 1 in which said ressure surfaces and the respectively associated aperture in the sup- NORTON ANSHERPrlmary Exammer porting plate are disposed over the surface of the easelto R. A. WINTERCORN, Assistant Examiner permit the securing of at leasttwo commonly used sizes of paper or the like to said supporting platewith each 10 US. Cl. X.R. size being held at least adjacent each cornerthereof. 35573, 76

